Hello Matt,
Owen and myself enjoyed the trip very much and did catch some memorable fish. Unfortunately, we experienced some bad weather at the start, which cut our salt water fishing down to one day. However, we did catch some Kingfish and spent some time on the rivers guiding Nick, who freely admitted he was not much of a "trouty" but may well become a convert.
Frank is an "ol dog", who we liked very much. He proved to be a great guide and not short of a story or two! He also taught us a lot about emptying a wine cellar and Owen and myself proved to be very able students. Pam looked after us very well at Motu and Jan managed able feasts at the Ruikitori Hilton. We both decided a diet was out of the question and made the most of it all.
We really only had one day on the Motu, due to inclement weather. However, what a day it was! With Frank guiding us along, we caught some very nice Browns - all sighted fish. The best was in the order of about 4lbs. Bigger fish were lost, usually by nailing themselves about a snag. We did fish the Motu a little on the second day but the water had been turned to mud due to heavy rain the night before. Nevertheless, Frank vowed to find fish and we had a success in one of the feeder streams, where the water was running clear.
We were at a loss in trying to decide what to do regarding the weather. In the end, I rang Nick and a discussion ensued regarding what to do with the next days fishing. We eventually followed the original plan because it was very hard to change days due to one factor or another. So, next morning Nick arrived and we set off for the cape. On arrival, it was obvious that the sea would be far too rough, so we formulated a plan and re - rigged the 8 wt with a floater and headed off to the rivers. I bought flies, indicators and leaders and we tried to catch the evening rise........... River 1 , fishers nil.
The next day, we headed further up river on a beautiful excursion through some glorious countyside. Lots of wildlife to see including Hares, Turkeys, and Pheasant. The day had cleared and we were rewarded with a fabulous bright, summers day. We caught some lovely rainbows on nymph and indicators amongst pocket water within rapids.
At the cape we got ready for our only opportunity to catch Kingfish. The sea had calmed somewhat and we headed out early in the morning to areas that Nick had plotted on his GPS. He found fish almost immediately and I caught the first fish on the first cast. We continued to pull fish fairly regularly and then it became a bit quiet. Nick unleashed the "Samurai sword "with hooks attached - apparently the favoured method with the Japanese- and more fish were brought to the boat. (Apparently, this style of fishing is called Jigging ).The Kingfish lived up to their reputation and put up a well respected fight - should try that with a 6wt!
Nik was a nice fellow and we got along well. Later that day we returned to the Motu Lodge and prepared ourselves to travel to the Ruikitori River. On arrival at " The Ruikitori Hilton", we set up for the last leg of our trip. The gods smiled. The weather just kept improving. We had probably the best fishing conditions that NZ could offer. Bright, warm summer sun. Neither too hot or too cold - perfect. The fish agreed and we had the river almost to ourselves.
The river was full of big beautiful Browns and Rainbows inhabiting all sorts of water. Mostly caught on nymphs but some on the dry. Usually a Hare and copper or Royal Wulff. (The fast sections were explored with tungsten beadheads in order to get down to where the fish were feeding). Most fish were spotted with polaroids. Owen, proved to be a top spotter!
Alas, all good things come to an end. I dare say that Franky is still talking about the large Brown that Owen hooked and played hard to get. ......Often lodging itself on the bed, round a rock, racing into awkward runs; requiring Owen and myself equiped with a stick to follow it across treacherous water, trace it downstream and on more than one occassion, prod it with the stick to get it going! Yes, and Franky had a bit of a laugh, swore we had made his day and could not believe we actually succeeded. But we did....... a nice fish of 5lbs.
Cav
For those of you wanting to experience the best saltwater fishing on the North island combined with some backcountry trout fishing please email us for more details.
No comments:
Post a Comment